Samuel clegg



ran srxrns PATENT .orrrcn SAMUEL CLEGG, OF GRAYS INN LANE, AND JACOBSAMUDA, OF SOUTILIWARK, GREAT BRITAIN. i

CONSTRUCTION 0F VALVES FOR PNEUMATIC RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,922, dated December 31, 1840.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, SAMUEL CLEGG, of Sidmouth street, Grays Inn Lane,in the county of Middlesex, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, civilengineer, and JACOB SAMUDA, of Southwark, in the county of Surrey, alsoin the Kingdom of Great Britain, civil engineer, have invented ordiscovered a new Improvement in Valves and the combination of them withmachinery; and we, the said SAMUEL CLEGG and JACOB SAMUDA, do herebydeclare that the nature of our said invention and the manner in whichthe same is to be performed are described and ascertained by thedrawings hereto annexed and the words followingthat is to say,

Our improvement consists in a method of constructing and working valvesin combination with machinery. These valves work on a hing-e of leatheror other flexible material which is practically air tight (similar tothe valves commonly used in air pumps). The extremity or edge of thesevalves is caused to fall into a trough containing a composition of beeswax and tallow or bees wax and oil or any substance or composition ofsubstances which is solid at the temperature of the atmosphere, andbecomes fluid when heated to a few degrees above it. After the valve isclosed and its extremity is lying in the trough the tallow is heatedsufficiently to seal'up or cement together the fracture around the edgeor edges of the valve which the previous opening of it had caused, andthen the heat being removed the tallow again becomes hardr and formsanair tight joint or cement between the extremity of the valve and thetrough. Vhen it is requisite to open the valve it is done by lifting itout of the tallow with or without the application of heat and the beforenamed process of sealing it, or rendering it air tight is repeated everytime it is closed. This combination of valves with machin-ery is made inthe application of these valves to railways or other purposes by a lineof partially exhausted pipes for the purpose of obtaining a directtractive force to move weights either on the railway or otherwise. Thiswe effect by laying down a continuous length of pipe containing alateral slit or opening its whole length; a piston is .made to travel inthis pipe by exhausting or drawing out the air from the pipe on onesid-e of the piston and allowing free access to the atmosphere on theother side of it; an arm from this piston passes through thelateralopening to attach to the carriages on the railway and draws them alongwith it.` The whole of this lateral opening is covered by the valvebefore described and that part of it through which t-he arm passes isliftedto' allow it to pass and also for admission lof air to the pistonby means of an apparatus connected tothe arm, theV carriage to whichthis arm isv attachedl we call the driving carriage, to' the hinder partof this carriage a long heater is attached which is drawn alongby itupon the tallow contained in the trough and reseals t-he valve` readyfor the next train which repeats the operation above described. Atcertain distances which are regulated by the nature of the road, steamengines and air pumps or other apparatus are fixed for exhausting thepipes, (these engines we propose to place about one mile apart in thefirst instance' and to lvary the distance either for greater or less aswek find to be most economical in practice) and at a short distancebeyond the connecf tion from the engine vto the pipe, valves are placed,closing the end of one length or section of pipe" and the beginning ofthe next, between which a space is left for stopping the trains ifrequired, theseV valves alsodivide the' pipe intov suitable lengths tobe Aexhausted by each apparatus or close the end where it is notrequired to' be continued as on declivities where the carriages will run,by their own gravit-y; thus every section of pipe is inclosed at thetwo ends by these valves and is exhausted by its own steam engine andapparatus, these valves which f we call the separating valves are openedby Vthe driving carriage to allow the piston to pass and are closedafterthe train has passed. started as frequently as possible the enginesf are employed constantly exhausting the pipe but if a longer periodthan is necessary If the trains are required to be to exhaust the pipebe required to elapse between start-ing the trains, thev engines kareemployed in the interval to exhaust large vessels or receivers whichwhen the train startsv are opened to the pipe to assist to obtainA thevacuum therein and to maintain it until the train has passed. Y y

Description of the parta-In all the ligures` of the drawings hereuntoannexed ook which show a method of applying this apparatus to a railwaythe same letters indicate the saine parts. j

Figures l`to 5 inclusive are drawn on a scale of one inch to a foot.Figs. 6 and 7` inclusive `are drawn on a scale of six inches to a foot.

`F ig. l, is a plan` of the driving carriage to which the arm of thepiston is connected with the upper part or body removed toshow thevalve. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal elevation ofthe same with one sidel ofthe pipe removed toshowthe apparatus for opening the valve, also showinga section `of the furnace for the heater. Fig. 3, is an end elevation ofthe same. Fig. 4, is a section of" the continuous .pipe cut at rightangles to Fig. 2, at m, m, showing the valve open and the manner ofattaching the `wheels for opening the valve are xed cut Y se at rightangles to Fig. 2 at g g. t Fig. 7, is the same view as Fig. 6 withthevalve and protecting cover closed. A A the continu ous pipe, thispipe is lined with a composition of bees wax and tallow similar to thatused `for sealing the valve. B the piston, this piston has two expandingleathers n, n, similar to those used in the pistons of air pumps-one ofthese leathers is xed about 14 inches in advance of the other, so thatno air may leak into the pipe A when the piston passes the recess formedfor the separating valve f. Cthe arm which connects the piston to thedriving carriage. D perch or bar attached to the axles E of the driv-`ing carriage by the bearings X. F the trough or groove containing thetallow in which the edge ofthe valve G is immersed. Gr G continuousvalve formed of leather or other flexible material riveted betweenplates of metal in such a manner that the leather forms a hinge as incommon pump val es, the fixed side `of this hinge is fastened downby abar of iron 2 laid edgewise longitudinally along it and pressed down onits surface by the screw bolts and nuts 3 this bar is kept in its placeagainst the side ofthe pipeby the screw bolts and nuts 4 as shown atFigs. 6 and 7, when thus screwed down a composition similar to that usedin the troughis poured in at the back of the leather. H wheels forlifting the `valve G Gr workingon pins in the frame T which is firmlyattached to the arm C. I cover for protecting the valve G and the troughfrom the weather and accidents. `J a valve in the piston B which isopened or i thirty feet long. j from the perch D for opening the valvef.

the wheels of the driving'- carriage. i branch for connecting the pipe Ato the exhausting apparatus.

Lesa

shut by sliding it around on its face so as 'to' uncover or coveropenings made in the plston. W7 a level1 attached to a cylinder P by arod K, the cylinder P slides on a key fitted in the piston rod g whichprevents it from turning around; a pin P in the cylinder P slides in thespiral chase L formed in the neck of the valve J for that purpose,.thevalve is opened by pushing the long end of the lever lV which draws therod K `and with it the lcylinder P to which it is attached and thus bycausing the pin P to move in a right line turns the valve around. Mbalance weight to keep the piston B from pressing unequally against thesides of the pipe A A. Y universal joint to allow the balance weight toact and also to allow for inequalities in the pipe or rails. N tube orflue receiving heat land flame from the lire place Z, the bottom side ofthis tube rests on the tallow contained in the trough F; this tube wecall the heater. O small rod or universal joint by which the heater N isattached to the perch D. f valve working on a hinge la., 71 for closingthe pipe near the end at which the piston enters. This `we call anentrance separating valve. Q Fig. 5 valve for closing the other end ofthe pipe. This we call an exit separating valve.` C, lever catching intothe stop d, for keeping the separating valve f shut or open. e

`spring for pressing the lever C up to the stop d R a second leverattached to the lever C by the rod j which should be about 7c cam orstud projecting 100 z' the rails on which the carriages travel. Z U aThis branch should be about thirty feet from the valve Q.

- wheel attached to the perch D by a spring fr. 1 This wheel presses onthe valve Gr. b spherij and disengages the lever C from the catch d.

The valve then beingdisengaged will open by the atmospheric pressure andfall back into a recess cast in the pipe. The lever is kept up to thecatch by the spring e which causes it to catch again when the valve iswide open and keep it from closing; the valve f being opened, one sideof the `pis- `ton B is exposed to the rariiied` atmosphere in the pipes,while the other side receives the full pressure of the externalatmosphere, this difference ofpressure causes the piston to move forwardanddraw with it the driving carriage to which it is attached, thiscarriage as it goes along constantly raises the valve Gr G by means ofthe wheels H to admit the external atmosphere freely to the back of thepiston and to allow a space for the correcting arm C. The cover I is atthe same time lifted by the perch of the driving carriage as shown atFig. 2. The wheel V which follows the arm C presses down the valve Gready for the heater N which is attached to and follows the drivingcarriage to remelt the tallow which has been broken up by. lifting thevalve Gr. This heater is kept hot by a lire lighted in the re place Zthe flame and heat from which passes through t-he tube N and the valveis thus resealed and left in a t state for the approach of the nexttrain; when the train is stopped the damper shown by the dotted lines inthat part of the tube at (b) is closed and that in the chimney (a) isopened which causes the flame to escape at the chimney (a) instead ofpassing through the heater (N) and escaping at (a) the length of thisheater is regulated by the speed at which the trains are intended totravel. W'hen the train arrives near the end of a portion of the pipethe piston after passing the branch U condenses or compresses the air inthe remainder of the pipewhich by its pressure opens the valve Q. Thisvalve may be closed after the train has passed by an attendant. Themovement of the universal joint Y is limited so as to be only suliicientfor the inequalities of the rails and continuous pipe but it will notallow the piston to diverge from its line enough to prevent it enteringthe next portion of the pipe, the end of which is made larger or bellmouthed to receive it. When it is necessary to retard the speed of thetrain it may be done by a common brake or by slightly opening the valveJ in the piston by means of the lever W, this admits a portion ofatmospheric air from the back of the piston B into the rarifled orexhausted part of the pipe A in front of the piston and by this meanslessens the difference of pressure between the front and back of thepiston. Vhen it is required to stop the train with the piston in thepipe the valve J must be opened full, this valve must be of sufficientdimensions to establish an equilibrium or nearly so on both sides of thepiston and consequently to destroy the moving power of the t-rain.

In every socket or joint of each pipe a space is left between thepacking it contains as shown at S Fig. 2. This space is lled with afluid or semi fluid which will be drawn into the pipe before any leakageof air can take place and which may be occasionally replenished.

The composition we prefer is a mixture consisting of three parts tallowand one part bees wax but these proportions may be varied according tocircumstances so long as it forms always a solid substance at thetemperature of the atmosphere and can be rendered partially fluid asabove described.

Now that we have described the nature construction and action of ourimproved valves and the application thereof to railways and otherpurposes we do not claim the precise size or form of the various partsor the using of the precise materials herein described but We claimexclusively- The method of constructing and using valves as abovedescribed and combining the said valves in the manner above describedherein for rendering available the application of direct tractive forceeither on railways or otherwise.

SAMUEL CLEGG. JACOB SAMUDA.

vWitnesses:

WALTER HUGHES, WVM. JAS. SKINNER.

